Faith Greater Than Fear

Faith Greater than Fear
Numbers 13:26-14:11
October 20, 2019

When you get the Numbers 13 it really is a monumental place in the history of Israel really, is very significant because Israel will find themselves here at a turning point. A spiritual crossroad, a decision that will be monumental to them and it will be famous throughout the rest of history. Israel in Numbers 13 is literally at the doorstep of the Promised Land. They have been in the desert, maybe two years. They're already- actually, I would say more like a year and a half. They're right at the doorstep of the Promised Land. They've come to a place called Kadesh Barnea, in the wilderness of Zin, right at the southern end.

God instructed Moses to send 12 leaders, 12 to spy out the land to see what it was like, to see whether the people in it were weak or whether they are strong, whether they were few or whether they were many or their city's fortified or not. Bring back some fruit, some samples of the land. The 12 are there for 40 days, which is very significant. The number 40 is significant. We'll discuss that on the Wednesday services, but when they came back 10 of the 12 brought back a bad report of what they saw. "The people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, they're very large.

Moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The land devours its inhabitants and all the people who we saw are men of great size. We became like grasshoppers in our own sight." They discouraged the people. The word of that report just spread like wildfire to the people, and they were discouraged. Now, two of them, two others, Caleb, and Joshua. They brought back a very different report. They saw the same things, but their report was favorable. They challenged the people. "Let's move in, let's move forward. Let's possess it. God will surely give it to us because God is with us," but the people grumbled, were afraid, went through like wildfire, this fear.

They're at a spiritual constraint, they got to decide, are they going to believe God, they're going to enter in, they're going to move forward, or they're going to let fear be the master, and then stay wandering in the wilderness. This is a decision. Now, there are a lot of lessons in this story because there's a lot of people who find themselves in a spiritual Crossroads where they have to make a decision in life, difficult decision. No matter what decision they make, it's going to be difficult. Is there a way that brings the promises of God to bear? The answer is yes, requires faith that is greater than fear.

Faith is what will give you the courage to move forward and to receive the promises of God. There's a lot of lessons here. Paul wrote, I mentioned it several times, because it is important to the story, that all that happened to Israel was an example for us that we should not follow after them in their disbelief, because many of them were destroyed in the wilderness. Okay, let's pick it up, pick up our story. We'll cover the rest of the verses around this on Wednesday. Let's look at verse 25, or 26, rather. They proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh.

They brought back words been to all the congregation and showed them fruit, then in the pomegranates and the grapes that they had to carry on a pole. Thus they said, "We went into the land, and certainly does flow with milk and honey, and here is its fruit nevertheless," and here's the discouraging part, "the people in it are strong cities are fortified very large. We saw the descendants of Anak there. Amalek is living in the land of the Negev. Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, living in the hill country, Canaanites, living by the sea and by the Jordan."

Then Caleb quieted the people. He said, "We should, by all means, go up and take possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it," but the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against these people. They are too strong for us." They gave out to the sons of Israel, this bad report of the land which they had spied and they said, "The land through which we have gone spying is a land that devours its inhabitants and all the people who we saw are men of great size. They are also the Nephilim," the sons of Anak were part of the Nephilim, "We became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

Chapter 14, we continue, "Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and they cried, and the people wept that night. All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron." The whole congregation said to them, “Listen to this okay. Would that, we had died in the land of Egypt, or would that we had died in this wilderness." Now, this is unfaith. This is a lack of faith, and God is going to take them up on that last statement right there. Why is the Lord bringing us into this land? To fall by the sword, our wives and our little ones will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt? Wouldn't it be better to go back to Egypt?

They said to one another, let's appoint a leader and let's go, let's return back to Egypt. Moses and Aaron, and they fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly in the congregation of the sons of Israel, and Joshua, the son of Nun and Caleb, the Son of Jephunneh, then those who had spied out the land, they tore their clothes. They spoke to the congregation of the sons of Israel and they said, "This land, which we pass through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord is pleased, then He will surely bring us into this land, and He will give it to us. A land which flows with milk and honey, do not rebel."

Okay, this is a good word. Do not rebel against the Lord. Do not fear the people of the land. They will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them. The Lord Jehovah is with us. Do not be afraid. Do not fear them, but all the congregation said just stone those men, stone those men with stones, then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent to meeting to all the sons of Israel. God decided to interrupt this little conversation. The Lord said to Moses, "How long will these people spurn Me?" See, lack of faith is a spurning of God Himself?

I. Pass Through the Wilderness

How long will they not believe me? How long will they not take me up my word, despite all the signs, which I have performed in their midst? All right, these are the verses I want us to look at. There's a lot to apply. I like to start because there's a lot of application to us. Today in our lives. I want to start this application. Pass through the wilderness. God never wanted them to stay in the wilderness. It was meant to take them somewhere. It was never meant to be their home. He was bringing them out of Egypt for the point of bringing them into that land.

That was the whole point. That land that He promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was never meant to be permanent. He was taking them somewhere. In other words, the wilderness is something that you pass through. You don't stay there. Now, let's look at this because it's important to see that there are analogies it represents something in our lives.

Let's start with tremendous application and that God uses the time of the wilderness to strengthen faith. God will use the wilderness to strengthen faith, all of these things represent something.
See there's a comparison between God delivering Israel from the slavery and oppression of Egypt and God saving our lives, saving us from oppression and giving us hope of life. Now, having said that, what does the promised land represent? It does not represent heaven. Let me be sure. The Promised Land does not represent heaven. Okay, because there are no Canaanites to be driven out of heaven. There are no giants to be defeated in heaven it does not represent that. This is a picture of spiritual maturity. It's a picture of living in the promises that God has for you and taking hold of them and living in the maturity and the fullness of life and the fullness of spirit and in the fullness of all that He has, spiritual maturity.

A. God uses the wilderness to strengthen faith

What then does the wilderness represent? It's a picture of what? Well, that depends. For that generation that came out of Egypt, it was a picture of the spiritual immaturity of not taking hold of God's promises, of not taking hold of God's purpose and calling, of not having victory, spiritual victory, of having fear in their life rather than faith. In fact, we read in the next verses or the verses following later in this chapter that the entire generation from 20 and upward, they came out of Egypt. All of them died in the wilderness only the exceptions of Caleb and Joshua.

What does it represent? Well, for that generation that came after them, it was a picture of spiritual discipleship, of learning to grow in faith. God is preparing them to receive His promises. In fact, we see this in Deuteronomy 8:2. Moses is giving a famous speech and he says to them, he is preparing them now to enter in and he says, "You shall remember all the ways which the Lord your God led you in the wilderness these 40 years, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commands or not."

God is using the time of the wilderness to see; will you take God's word or not? Will you hold on to God's word or not? Then He says, "He humbled you and He'll let you be hungry, but then He fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor your fathers knew that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord." That's a famous verse that the Lord Jesus Himself quotes. That's a great word that He might make you know, in other words, that you might learn this great truth, man does not live by bread alone.

That is not where you get life. Man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Will you take hold or not? It's a crossroads. It's a decision point. Now, this is important because many do not enter in. Many do not press forward. God says, "But I want you to press forward." See the promises of God are wondrous. The promises of God are for every believer to take and have, but the promises of God are not always a gift that you simply unwrap. Some of them are, but not all of the promises are a gift that you simply unwrap.

Sometimes the promises of God are found in the facing of the giants, facing of the challenges head-on trusting God in the difficult things of life.

B. With the heart a person believes

Some of the greatest promises are received when you move forward, and you press into the problems and the challenges and the giants. There are great spiritual lessons for all of us because many come to faith but have not learned to walk victoriously. See that's the point they come to faith-- in other words, they've asked Jesus into their heart, they received forgiveness, but they have not moved in the fullness of what God has for them, they're still in the wilderness. We have to recognize some great truths. Let's start with this. With the heart, a person believes, here they are at Kadesh Barnea and they did not enter in because they were afraid that much is sure, but there is more to it than that.

This is important to see. We were last week looking at Numbers 11 and Numbers 11 in the very first verse gives us an understanding of what's going on in their hearts. It says, in Numbers 11:1 "They became like those who complained of adversity in the hearing of the Lord." That's a great insight. They became like a people who complain of adversity. As soon as adversity comes, they complain, and they complain in the hearing of the Lord. In other words, this is a great truth. It's very difficult to make good decisions with a bad attitude, very hard to make good decisions when the attitude isn't right.

Their critical and complaining spirit did something to them. It changed them. A critical and complaining spirit and this is true for us as well. A critical and complaining spirit will drain spiritual life from you and it will make you spiritually weak. There's a number of things that will make you spiritually weak, but that particular attitude is sure. The problem was not God. God had already proven Himself over and over. The problem wasn't the land they had now seen it with their own eyes. The problem then was the heart. Romans 10:10 tells us the significance of the heart.

It says, "With the heart, a person believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth then he confesses resulting in salvation," but it starts in the heart. How about Luke 8:15 Jesus said, "The ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart and then hold it fast, these are the ones who bear fruit with perseverance." These are 12 leaders who went in to spy out the land, 10 came back with the bad report, two came back with a good report. What's the difference? They saw the same land, they saw the same giants, they saw the same cities, they saw the same fruits. What was the difference? The difference is found in Caleb.

C. God does not give a spirit of fear

Numbers 14:24 God is speaking of Caleb and He says, "My servant Caleb because he had a different spirit, something different about Caleb. He had a different spirit and he has followed me fully. I will bring him into the land which he entered, and his descendants will take possession of it." I want a different spirit. I want to be like Caleb. Anybody else? I want to be like Caleb. There's an internal strength in his soul. I want that and it's important because it's critical to life. Like how are you going to live this life? God gives you one life. How are you going to live it? I want to live it like Caleb. I want to live it in the fullness of faith.

I want to experience all you've got for me, Lord. I want all of it. I want the victory that comes like Caleb experienced it because here's a great truth because they're at this crossroad where fear has gripped them, therefore we must see this point that God does not give a spirit of fear. In other words, if a person has a spirit of fear, one thing is certain, it didn't come from God. God didn't give a spirit of fear. In fact, 2 Timothy 1:7, very famous, "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but God has given us a spirit of power and of love and a sound mind." Well, I want that spirit.

Here's the thing, you and I, all of us, we were all born with a spirit of fear. We're born into it. It's the human condition. You're born with it. Something's got to change between birth and the point at which you reach Kadesh Barnea because all of us we will face, we will come to our own Kadesh Barnea. We'll all come to it at some point in our life. Something's got to change between when we're born and when we come to that place. Something's got to change. It's faith. See faith comes from taking God's word and holding God's word in your heart. That's how faith is built. That's how a person is changed. That's how a person is transformed so that they can become like a Caleb in their life. That's when you take hold of the promises of God. That's when you press in.

Romans 10:17, "Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ." Here's the point, fear will keep you from taking hold of those promises. Fear is not from God. It's something we're born with. He says, "I want to give you a different spirit. I want to give you My power, My presence, My strength." They all saw the difficulties, they knew that giants were before them, but those with fear, they took God out of the equation. That's the key. I love what David says in this regard. David writes, "Oh Lord God, you have been my confidence since my youth." I love that word right there.

David was pretty confident. You probably know this, right? David was a mighty man of God. David had mighty men around him, but he has this understanding. David was not self-confident. No, he was a mighty man. What do you mean he wasn't self-confident? He was brimming with self-confidence. No. David was brimming with God-confidence, whole different thing. You have been my confidence from my youth. That's what it means to have faith. That's what it means to live by faith. See, there are many who receive forgiveness, but they don't obtain the promises that God has so that they could experience life to the full and be spiritually victorious in their lives.

How many do not experience the fullness of a joyful marriage because of fear and insecurity? How many do not pursue their calling because of fear of failure? How many do not share their faith because of fear of being rejected. See, grow. He wants you to grow in your faith so that those problems, the giants, the struggles, the challenges, the trials will not keep you from experiencing the promises of victory that God already has given to you, promised you. It's when you face them, it's when you press forward, believing that God will be with you. That's when you'll see the promises of God.

Hebrews 4:2 gives us this insight. "Indeed, we have had good news preached to us just as they also but the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard it." That's the key. See God did not promise to keep you from trouble. He never said that you would be saved so that you would never experience trouble. He never said that. He said, "I will be with you in the trouble." This world is filled with tribulation is what Jesus actually said, "But take courage," He says, "Take courage. I have overcome the world." It's a good word to us.

II. Faith Changes Your Perspective

He promised to be with you. Isaiah 43:2 He says, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you pass through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire you will not be scorched, nor the flame burn you. I will be with you." Here's what my point that we got to see. Faith changes your perspective. Faith changes how you see the thing. How you see the giants, the troubles, the difficulties. It changes how you see it. Their lack of faith changed the way they saw themselves, and how they saw the enemy. They saw themselves like grasshoppers in our own sight, and they saw the enemy is giants.

Joshua and Caleb, they didn't see it that way at all. They saw it quite differently. They said, "The Lord will surely bring us into this land. He will give it to us. Do not rebel against the Lord." See, what does God expect? What did God want? God expected them to move forward. "I'm with you. The promises that I give are sure." He expected them to move forward. Do not rebel against the Lord and do not fear the people of this land. They will be our prey. Their protection has been removed. Surely the Lord is with us. Do not fear them. Do not be afraid.

There's a lot of things in life that could cause a person to be afraid. What's the worst that could come? I'd like to ask that question when I face a difficult thing. What's the worst thing that could come? Well, I could lose my life. That's the worst. That's when I enter my graduation day. That's my coronation day. I've no fear. Do not fear death. The one who fears death will die 1000 deaths. It's a glorious day. Let God choose the day. It's His choice. I will live the life that you gave me to live and I'll live it every day that you gave it to me, and I'll live it to the full. Amen. When my time is done, my time is done and that's enough for me. Amen.

Do not be afraid. What did Paul say? "To die is gain," he says. If I remain, then I count it as an honor to be persecuted for the name of the Lord. What do you do with a guy like that? You can't intimidate a guy like that, because he's sure. See if Israel had entered the land at that moment, they would have been saved from wandering in the desert 40 years, and they would have entered into the experience the fullness of God's blessing. In other words, there are consequences from not believing. You're missing out. You're missing out on the greatness of what God has.

You're missing out on the promises and the fullness of life and the fullness of joy. Fear will rob you. The enemy will rob you. The Lord does not want you to experience fear. He wants you to have life and He wants you to have life to the full but here's the thing. Some promises are obtained by faith. Some promises are- there are different degrees of faith. Israel trusted God to get them out of Egypt, but they lacked the faith to enter the promised land. Many people are delighted to receive the good gifts of God, so long as it costs them nothing but the moment that God says, "Rise up and take the ground that's held by the enemy," then fear grips.

A. Some promises are obtained by faith

Faith gives courage to move. Faith is where you get the courage to move, to rise up, to press forward, to possess what God is promising you. What did God expect? I like asking that question. What did God expect? He expected them to believe. He expected them to press forward because it says, "He proved Himself." Therefore, he expected him to press forward in faith. Similarly, Jesus wanted strong faith in the disciples. It's a good word for us. I want to read to you several verses where Jesus is strengthening their faith by calling out their lack of faith.

Matthew 6:30, "If God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you of little faith?" Matthew 8:26 He said, "Why are you afraid? You men of little faith. Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm." Matthew 14:31, "Jesus stretched out His hand took hold of him and He said to Peter, "Why did you doubt o ye of little faith?" Matthew 16:8, Jesus aware of this said, "You men of little faith why do you discuss amongst themselves that you have no bread."

B. Live the victorious life

He kept speaking to their faith, because he expects them to grow. What does God expect from you and from me? God expects us to live the victorious life. God wants you to live the victorious life. God wants you to press forward, believe, take hold of promises, live the victorious life. This is what pleases God. Without faith, it's impossible to please Him, but faith surely pleases Him. I love-- we used to sing a worship song and I love the words of it. "It's time to live a life of love that pleases you." I love that phrase. "It's time to live a life that pleases you."

I want to please you, Lord. I want to live my life in such a way that I do what you're asking me to do, to press forward. What did He want from them? He wanted them to believe. He wanted them to press forward. What does the victorious life look like? Well, it looks like these things. The victorious life remembers what God has done because God has proven Himself over and over and over. Has He proved Himself to you? I tell you; He has proved Himself to me so many times, over and over and over. I could stand here I could write a book.

In fact, I hope God give me the days to write a book of the glorious ways that God has proved Himself to me. Some amazing stories of God revealing Himself to me. There certainly have been challenges, there certainly have been difficulties but see, that is when we experience the faith. That is when we see God's hand move when we enter into difficulties when we enter into troubles. I know I told this story but I love telling it so you just pretend you've never heard of it but the story is absolutely amazing to me. It's just another one of those I could give you so many, but I was scheduled to speak in another city and my plane was scheduled to leave at I think, I don't know 7:06 or something and I woke up at 6:30. My wife nudging me, "Hey, aren't you supposed to be at the airport?" I set the alarm for PM rather than AM and I had this jolt of, "Oh no." I get in the car and back in those days, you could use your cell phone in the car.

I was like, "When's the next flight?" No, there was not a flight that was going to get me there on time. I was scheduled to speak and it was time just right. I was going to land. Someone's going to pick me up, he's going to drive me to the place and I was going to speak. I was going to speak about what God was doing in our missions and it was going to be a stockholders meeting of this company and then they were going to give me a lot of money for our missions. I really wanted to be there. "There's not a flight. No." I said, "Would you mind looking on the other airlines?" Oh, there's a flight at 7:16 or something on Southwest. I said, "Well, can I get the number?" I get the number to call. "Can I get a ticket?" "No, no, we don't give tickets this close, but there's a kiosk you can always buy one there at the airport."

Then I start praying, "Okay, God, I need 10 miracles and I need them in exactly the right order." I went through right downtown Beaverton and never hit one red light. All right, Lord. All right, Lord. There's one and then I pulled into the airport parking in the wrong one, but there was a bus right there. No one is on it. I jumped on. "Would you mind taking just me?" "Okay. Yes, he would do." He takes me and I jump off the bus and I run up the stairs and there's Southwest kiosk right there. I buy a ticket and I checked the gate.

I go through the security back in those days you had to open your laptop and turn it on. It's like, "Oh really?" Then I put it back in my briefcase and then I'm running. Sure, wouldn't you know it, my gate was the last gate and I am sprinting. I am literally sprinting, and I run past the gate person. I did not have a boarding pass. Back in those days, you got it at the gate. I ran by the person down the jetway and there was a big open square and I looked and could see the tractor pushing my plane away. There was a guy right there. I said, bring it back.

He said, "No. Once that door is closed, it's not coming back." I said, "You don't understand. I have to be on that plane. There is no other plane that will take me where I've got to be. I have to be on that plane." He said, "It's not coming back." I said, "Okay. How do I get a refund?" He said, "Well, go talk to the lady at the counter there." I go back up the jetway and this is what I say to the Lord, "I did this, this was me. I don't blame you. You have been so good to me. I have nothing to complain about. You have been marvelous to me. I did this. This is my fault," and so I go up to the lady, "I need a refund." She said, "Oh," she was chuckling, "Oh, there's always one. We call you runners." That's really nice.

There was my plane, I could see my plane. The tractor had pushed it all the way and had turned it sideways and then I saw the plane come back and I look like this and she thought that was strange. She turned around and looked. She says, "What are they doing?" I said, "I have no idea, but I need the boarding pass."

She gave me a boarding pass. I walked down the jetway, this is no embellishment, no exaggeration at all. The plane pulled in, they opened the door, I got in, they closed the door and they took off. Now, here I am standing in front of this airplane full of people and they start clapping.

Obviously, something had been said. I sit down, I'm sweating, and we take off. Then when the flight attendant gets up again, I say, "Excuse me, what time are we landing?" See, because I'm still not done with the miracles. I'm on the wrong plane that's going to land later than the other one and I'm just still needing a few miracles. I said, "What time is this plane land?" She says, "Well, excuse me, but aren't you the one who made us late?"

"That's true but what time are we landing?" I'm trying to call on the airplane phone page them nothing. I can't reach anyone so I see before we land and we were landing early, by the way, tailwind before we landed, I said to the flight attendant, "Do you think that I could be the first one off this plane, could I sit upfront and then be the first one off this plane?" She said to me, "Oh, anything for you."

Sure enough, she brings me out there and they land and I rush off the plane. There's a bus shuttle where a train or something. It brings me to the main terminal. I was the last one on the train, the first one off the train. When I get off, they're paging me. “Rich Jones please pick up the guest phone.” I pick it up." I'm here, I'm here, I'm here. "Well, what happened, where are you, you're not on your plane? I said, "I'll tell you later, I'll meet you at the baggage claim," whatever. We go, he takes me right at the thing. I go right into the place where they're having the meeting. I put my stuff down and I walk right up to the podium and I got a story to tell. They decided they were going to finance our missions for another year. Yes.

My point is that God has proven Himself to me over and over but you know how He proved Himself most when He raised Jesus from the dead. He proved Himself to me. Anybody else? Can we give the Lord praise and glory?

He said in Acts 17 "God has furnished proof to every man by raising Jesus from the dead." God has proved Himself, but then He's proved Himself to me in my own personal story. Has He proved Himself to you? He's not done yet. Do you believe He's not done yet? See, God will keep proving. See, the one who lives the victorious life is not dominated by fear. They have fear, they're just not dominated by it and also the one who lives the victorious life has set their course. They know they have set their mind. This thing has settled with me. Joshua 24:15 it makes this challenge. "Choose you this day whom you will serve but as for me and my house, we serve the Lord." This thing is settled.

2 Timothy 1:12 I am not ashamed. I know in whom I have believed and I am persuaded. I'm convinced that He's able to keep that which I have committed unto Him until that day, this thing is settled. This is the way God wanted you to live victoriously. What does God expect? God expects you to believe. God expects you to press forward. God expects you to have the fullness of life. I'm offering it to you and I expect you to take it. The one who lives the victorious life knows that, frankly, all men are grasshoppers and God is the one who stands over them all. That is in whom I have believed. Anyone else? Let's give the Lord praise and glory.

Father, thank you so much for proving yourself to us over and over. Lord, I pray for everyone in this room, anyone who is at this crossroad of Kadesh Barnea in their life. Will they press forward? Will they take God at His word? Church, today, will you? Are you at a crossroad? God wants you to have the fullness of promise. God wants you to a victorious life. The one who believes takes God at His word and is willing to face the troubles the challenges because of God being with you. Church, today, would you say to the Lord, "This thing is settled with me. This thing is settled with me. I know in whom I have believed. I will press forward. I will press forward. I will believe. You are my God. I will believe." Would you say it to the Lord? Would you just raise your hand in a bold way? Just raising your hand and say, "This thing is settled with me. I press forward."

Lord, thank you for everyone who is moved of God, stirred in the spirit. You're amazing. We truly give you thanks for all that you're doing in our lives in Jesus' powerful name and everyone said? Amen